Please introduce yourself. What do you do? Why? What do you want people to know about you?
What’s good y’all, I’m Callmesolstice. I’ve been rapping since I was 14 and singing even longer, so those 10,000 hours got hit 10,000 hours ago.
Even before I started writing my own music, I used to memorize 8-mile raps and spit for my friends at the bus stop as if they were mine.
Ever since I was a kid, music got me through all the hardest times in life. We all know the old cliche “music saved my life” but I literally wouldn’t be here without a bunch of long showers listening to Telefone by Noname.
That’s what I want to do for other people like me. Give all the people who grew up ugly and had to earn their friends, all the kids bouncing between lunch tables because they weren’t really in the friend group, give all of them someone to relate to and get behind. I’m also quite tired of being poor.
What qualities make you different and unique from everyone else in the industry?
What makes me different is my attention to detail and my ear for music.
The quality and feel of the music have to come before everything and every song has to be special, down to the specific beats cuts, moments, vocal effects, and how they’re laid out. When that’s missing then people end up making the same music over and over again.
On that note, another thing that makes me special is my versatility. People don’t tend to put too much thought or effort into their writing these days, so the fact that I can take my style and finesse it over any type of song (I feel) gives me a leg up on all the competition.
As a result, you get someone who isn’t afraid to learn and experiment, because at the end of the day that’s what it’s all about. Expressing yourself as best you can.
Describe THAT moment when you realized you’re doing what you were born to do.
That moment was at a Halloween show a couple of years ago. I had gotten invited by a singer that I met at a different Halloween party the day before.
I went as a regular fan, not even expecting to get the chance to go on. As the night is moving on, I’m with my friend completely blown away by the talent being shown in this comfortably lit apartment clubhouse.
Everyone sitting on the floor, fake candles flickering all around, a random pool table behind the singers with purple LED’s reflecting off the wood borders set the most calming vibe. All this was complemented by the beautiful music being sung for as many people as this medium-large room could hold.
After a few acts I saw a performer I had seen at another show, and I promptly took the chance to fan out over him for a second. We talked for a bit and somehow I uttered the phrase, “I wanna perform at one of these someday”, to which he replied by promptly offering me a chance to perform on his set. After a little bit of thought and consulting my friend, I accept the offer and prepare myself to perform, still not fully believing it would happen. He goes on, and after a couple of songs he brings me up.
Fun fact, medium-large rooms look much bigger when they’re full of people staring at you (who knew). Anxiety is coursing through my body as we ready my track to play, and right as the beat begins I mention that I’ve always wanted people to sing along with me while I was performing, mostly as a joke since most of these people had never even seen me before, let alone heard my music.
As the vocals begin to play I melt into the music. All the previous anxiety is gone as the familiar sounds just fly out of my lips. And the moment that solidified everything for me is when the hook came, and with barely any time to learn it, the crowd began singing with me and cheering me on! Pretty much everything else was a blur (although I do remember a lot of cheering) but after that, I was indoctrinated into a whole new art scene in my city that I had no idea about.
When everything was done and I was back home I just sat in my driveway and processed everything that happened. To put it in perspective, there were singers in there that the people knew, and had voices built for the billboard top 100. All of them had 10-15 minute sets. Yet somehow my performance had the biggest crowd reaction of the entire night, and I only did one song.
When I knew I could turn a room of strangers up that quickly, I knew that this life was meant for me.
What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve had to go through and how did you grow through it?
The biggest challenge for me was definitely homelessness.
Early into 2020, I left home, staying with some friends for a little bit till I could get an apartment. Unfortunately for me, I underestimated how expensive and annoying life is, and ended up staying way longer than expected. This ended when they kicked me out (a week after getting a new job and the night quarantine started btw) and I had to find some new digs.
After a couple of nights sleeping in cars, I found some nice coworkers to let me stay at their house for a little while. During that time there was quite a bit of growth that happened with my worst depressive episode and also my most popular song coming out of the same room.
There was a break from couch surfing for a little bit when I became able to get an apartment, but after a failed move to Houston, I’m sorta back in the same situation.
Admittedly, my current situation is much better and I’m in the process of getting back under my own roof, but homelessness is still the biggest struggle I’m facing/faced.
Who are the TOP 3 people you’d want to meet that could elevate your career or business? Why these specific individuals?
The first person I’d want to meet is Smino. He may not be the biggest artist out there but his music is a big influence on my style and the music I want to make. Meeting him and even seeing him work would definitely help me with my creativity and maybe even inspire me to try new things.
Second, I would LOVE to meet Masego, soak in his musicality, and pick his brain to learn as much as I possibly could from him. Might even try and convince him to teach me to play saxophone a little bit.
Lastly, I’d want to meet Russ. Not only is he extremely talented, but this man also figured out to make it in the music industry without the help of the music industry. No matter what you think of him, he has some valuable information, and I need to know it.
Drop your social media links.
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/callme.solstice
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/@callmesolstice